Collection notes

Soko: recycled-brass jewelry from Nairobi

Soko was one of the jewelry labels at Antidote; Vogue's feature on the store linked to it by name. This page explains the brand.

Who started it

Ella Peinovich (MIT, MA 2012), Catherine Mahugu and Gwendolyn Floyd co-founded Soko. The company went through MIT's delta v accelerator in 2012.

Materials

The jewelry is mostly brass, often recycled, plus horn and bone collected from local butchers as a by-product of meat processing. JCK described the brass pieces Antidote carried as fair trade.

The "virtual factory"

Soko has no central workshop. Artisans work in their own studios and receive orders by phone. According to MIT News, software matches each order to an artisan based on their track record, and pieces are made only after they are ordered. Artisans keep 25 to 35% of the retail price, compared with an industry norm of 2 to 3%, and on average their income rises fivefold within months of joining.

Where it went after Antidote

By 2019 Soko sold through Nordstrom, Reformation and Free People as well as its own site. Michelle Obama wore Soko jewelry on the December 2018 cover of Essence.